"Lady Marmalade" is a song written by
Bob Crewe and
Kenny Nolan, originally for Nolan's disco group the Eleventh Hour. The song is famous for the repeated refrain of "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" in
French as part of the chorus, a
sexually suggestive line that translates into English as: "Do you want to sleep with me?" The song first became a popular hit when it was recorded in 1974 by the American
funk rock group
Labelle and held the number-one spot on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week, and also topped the Canadian RPM national singles chart. In 2021, the
Library of Congress selected Labelle's version for preservation in the
National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant".
The song has had many cover versions over the years. In 1998, girl group
All Saints released a cover of the song that peaked at number one on the
UK Singles Chart. The 2001 version by singers
Christina Aguilera,
Mýa,
Pink and rapper
Lil' Kim, recorded for the Moulin Rouge!soundtrack, was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, and also a number-one hit in the UK. "Lady Marmalade" was the ninth song to reach number one by two different musical acts in America.[4]
Labelle version
Background and release
The song was written by
Bob Crewe and
Kenny Nolan after Crewe visited
New Orleans. A demo of the song was first recorded by The Eleventh Hour, a disco group made up of studio musicians fronted by Nolan on vocals.[5] It was added in 1974 as a track on the Eleventh Hour's Greatest Hits LP, which did not chart.[6][7] Crewe showed the song to producer
Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, and Toussaint then decided to record the song with Labelle.[8]
Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was produced by Toussaint and Vicki Wickham, with the former also playing an
RMI Electra-Piano on the recording. The rhythm section on the recording was New Orleans-based
funk band
The Meters. "Lady Marmalade" was released as a single in November 1974 from the Nightbirds album released that September, their first album after signing with Epic Records.[9]Patti LaBelle sang lead vocals on "Lady Marmalade" with backing vocals being contributed by bandmates
Nona Hendryx and
Sarah Dash. The song is best known for the suggestive French lyric "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" ("Do you want to sleep with me tonight?") in the refrain.[10] "Lady Marmalade" is about a man's sexual encounter with the titular
prostitute, but Patti LaBelle was completely oblivious to its overall message, saying: "I didn't know what it was about. I don't know French and nobody, I swear this is God's truth, nobody at all told me what I'd just sung a song about."[11]
Reception
Steve Huey of
AllMusic selected the song as one of the best tracks on Labelle's 1995 compilation Lady Marmalade: The Best of Patti and Labelle.[12] Critic
Robert Christgau described it as "great synthetic
French-quarter raunch."[13]
"Lady Marmalade" is billed as the song that made Labelle one of the "hottest girl groups" of the 1970s.[14] It was a number-one hit for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States during the early spring of 1975, and charted at number one for one week on the BillboardTop Soul Singles chart.[15] Along with the track, "What Can I Do for You?", "Lady Marmalade" peaked at number seven on the disco/dance charts.[16] The single was also a major hit in the United Kingdom, where it charted at number seventeen . "Lady Marmalade" replaced another Crewe/Nolan composition,
Frankie Valli's "
My Eyes Adored You", as the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. This feat made Crewe and Nolan the third songwriting team in Billboard history (after
Lennon–McCartney and
Holland–Dozier–Holland) to replace themselves at number one.[4]Billboard ranked it as the
No. 22 song for 1975.[17] Labelle performed "Lady Marmalade" on Soul Train on December 7, 1974.[18]
"Lady Marmalade" debuted at number 92 on the Canadian RPM singles chart on February 1, 1975.[19] It subsequently peaked atop the chart on March 29, 1975, after five weeks on the chart.[20] Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.[21] and was ranked number 479 on Rolling Stone's list of
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and number 485 in 2010. The Labelle version also appears in several films, including The Long Kiss Goodnight, Dick, and Jacob's Ladder. It was used in the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 in a new version performed by Patti LaBelle.
Billboard ranked the song at number sixteen on their list of the "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time".[22] In 2021, the
Library of Congress selected the song for preservation in the
National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant".[23][24]
"Lady Marmalade" was covered by
Italianpop star
Sabrina on her
eponymous album. It was released in 1987 as the album's second single by
Baby Records. In some countries, including France and the Netherlands, the song was known as "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? (Lady Marmalade)" and was released in 1988. Author James Arena named the cover among Sabrina's "relentlessly catchy" singles.[42] The song charted at number 36 on the Belgian Flanders Singles Chart, number 40 on the Dutch Single Top 100, and number 41 on the French Singles Chart.[43]
In 1998, English-Canadian girl group
All Saints recorded a cover version of "Lady Marmalade" as part of the
double A-sided single
"Under the Bridge" / "Lady Marmalade". In Europe, only the "Lady Marmalade" single was released. The All Saints version contains different lyrics for its verses; the only lyrics retained from the original composition are the chorus. A version remixed by
Timbaland appeared on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack.
Reception
Daily Record described All Saints' version as a "passable version of
LaBelle's
disco classic."[52] "Lady Marmalade" was the third single taken from their self-titled debut studio album; it contained the "Marmalade" cover and a cover version of "Under the Bridge" by
Red Hot Chili Peppers. The single reached number one on the official UK Top 40 chart, becoming the group's second number-one hit. A total of 424,799 singles have been sold in the UK, with proceeds from the single going to breast cancer charities.[citation needed]
Music video
The
music video for the song shows the band members and other people having a dance party on one of the floors of a skyscraper in New York City at night. British actress Kathryn Allerston appears in the music video.[citation needed]
In 2001, "Lady Marmalade" appeared as part of a medley in the
Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge!. For the film's soundtrack album,
Christina Aguilera,
Lil' Kim,
Mýa, and
Pink recorded a cover version; it was released as the soundtrack's first
single in April 2001.[75] Produced by
Missy Elliott and writing partner
Rockwilder, it includes an intro and outro by Elliott. Lyrics were changed from the original version, transferring the song's setting from New Orleans to the titular
Moulin Rouge in
Paris.
Aguilera said she embraced the idea of collaborating with Elliott, Pink, Mýa and Lil' Kim on the track as soon as it was pitched to her. "I'm a fan of all of theirs, and just to be in the same song doing something with them—collaborating, which I love to do, is a really big thing for me," she said. "And it's cool to be out there before my next album comes out there, too."[76]
Critical reception
The Moulin Rouge! version of "Lady Marmalade" received mixed-to-positive reviews. AllMusic's Brand Kohlenstein praised the song, saying that "the ladies teamed up for a surefire hit with their naughtier version of Patti Labelle's 'Lady Marmalade.'"[77]Slant Magazine praised the collaboration as well, describing it as "an accolade to the performers' various distinctive styles, with Lil' Kim trashing it up and Aguilera caterwauling her way through the second half of the song."[78] However,
Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the cover "god-awful".[79] The Sun Journal opined that the Moulin Rouge! version helped the song "find a new life."[80] In a retrospective review, journalist Bianca Gracie noted that the song "highlighted each artist’s signature style: Lil Kim’s raunchy raps, Pink’s soulful tone, Mya’s sultry coos, and Aguilera’s theatrical vocal runs".[81]
MTV ranked "Lady Marmalade" at number six on the list of the best 2001 songs,[82] and
LiveAbout.com placed it at number 21 on its list of the hundred best pop songs of the year.[83]Entertainment Weekly's Andrew Hampp named it the best all-female collaboration of the time span 1998–2018.[84] The song won the 2002
Grammy Award in the category of "
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".
Chart performance
This version of the song reached number-one in its eighth week on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 and spent five weeks at the top of the chart, 26 years after Labelle's version had reached number-one, making "Lady Marmalade" the ninth song in history to
top the U.S. chart as performed as different artists.[85] It was the third airplay-only song in Billboard chart history (after
Aaliyah's 2000 single "
Try Again" and
Shaggy's 2001 single "
Angel") to hit number one without being released in a major commercially available single format.[86]
The song also holds the record for the longest reigning number one on Billboard's
Mainstream Top 40 chart for an all female collaboration, topping the chart for nine consecutive weeks.[87] "Lady Marmalade" is the best-selling single for
Lil' Kim and Mýa. Lil' Kim also held the record for having the longest number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 for a female rapper, with "Lady Marmalade" being on the top of the charts for five consecutive weeks, until Australian rapper
Iggy Azalea's "
Fancy" surpassed the record by holding on to the number one position for seven weeks in 2014. The song was included on non-US versions of Aguilera's first greatest hits album, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits. "Lady Marmalade" was the top selling song of 2001 and has sold 5.2 million copies worldwide as of December 2001.[88]
Music video
"We wanted to showcase each of the ‘four badass chicks from the Moulin Rouge’ bringing together their different skills and personas into a true celebration of diversity, talent, and female unity."
— Missy Elliott, the song's co-producer; 2021.[81]
The music video, directed by
Paul Hunter, shows all four performers in
lingerie in a
cabaret-style video (with rapper
Missy Elliott giving an introduction) and was filmed on sets built to resemble the actual
Moulin Rouge nightclub around the turn of the 20th century. Interviewed by MTV News, the singers expressed their excitement about the video. Pink predicted the clip would be like a "circus on acid". Aguilera said, "The video's going to be dope," while elaborating on the video's concept: "We're going to be having cabaret costumes. It's something you've never seen from us before. So, it's going to be fun."[76]
The video's art direction
anachronistically merged hip-hop sensibility with the film's French cabaret setting, thanks to some props and costumes actually used in the movie, according to Hunter's office. Choreographer
Tina Landon was hired to choreograph the video. The video won the
MTV Video Music Awards for "
Best Video of the Year" and "
Best Video from a Film". In March 2021, Glenn Garner of the People magazine noted that "Lady Marmalade" "remains one of the most iconic music videos of our time".[89] The video received a
Vevo Certified Award on
YouTube for over 100 million views.[90]
Moulin Rouge! — the musical — opened on Broadway at the
Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 25, 2019, featuring "Lady Marmalade" sung by The Lady M's: Nini Legs-in-the-Air (
Robyn Hurder), Arabia (Holly James), Baby Doll (Jeigh Madjus) and La Chocolat (Jacqueline B. Arnold). The song has been used in many promotional videos and, both opens and closes the show. It has been announced that a full cast recording is set to come out in the Fall of 2019.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Molanphy, Chris (March 25, 2022).
"Killing Me Softly Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast).
Slate. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
^
abFred, Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits: The Inside Story Behind Every Number One Single on Billboard's Hot 100 from 1955 to the Present (5th ed.). Billboard Books. pp. 399, 913.
ISBN0-8230-7677-6.